public house

“Its combination of the choreographic and choral offer a dazzlingly unique form in which to make the collective cinematic”

Sophie Mayer, BFI Sight & Sound

Public House tells the story of the Ivy House Pub in Peckham. Slated to be sold to property developers in 2012, the local community triumphantly came together to save the pub from closure. This documentary is an inspirational story of social resilience and the power of communities working together.

Made in collaboration with some of the many users of the pub, the film features their voices, poems and performances, as well as key moments in the community takeover which led the Ivy House to become one of the UK’s first co-operatively owned pubs and the country’s first‘asset of community value’. Through dance, poetry and song the film builds into an exhilarating participatory opera of multi-layered voices telling a tale of social resilience in the face of creeping gentrification.

It culminates with director Sarah Turner’s own playful reimagining of William Blake’s vision of angels on Peckham Rye, as the Ivy House community take to the streets in a communal celebration of human creativity and resilience.

Originally premiered at the London Film Festival, Public House was nominated for the prestigious Grierson Award in 2016.